On Friday, Feb. 10th, the Admirals returned to Scope following a three-game road trip, having lost five of their last eight games and were sitting in third place in the East Division.

Fast forward 19 days and the Admirals are riding a franchise-record nine-game point streak and currently are tied for the best record in the AHL. The Admirals are currently two points ahead of St. John’s for best record in the Eastern Conference and hold a four-point advantage over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the East Division.

During the nine-game, 19 day stretch, 19 Admirals have notched a point; including goaltender Dustin Tokarski who picked up an assist in last Friday’s game. Leading the Admirals during the stretch are Tyler Johnson (3 G, 8A) and Cory Conacher (4 G, 7 A).

Tokarski, who enters tonight’s contest riding a personal six-game win streak, has two shutouts during the nine-game win streak. The third-year netminder has also surged to the top of the league in wins with 25. His counterpart, Jaroslav Janus, enters the contest vs. the Bears having won three straight contests.

With a victory tonight, the Admirals will increase their cushion over the Penguins to six points and 10 points over the Bears.

IT’S BEEN A BEAR OF A SEASON Tonight’s contest is the tenth, and final, meeting between the Admirals and Bears this season. Norfolk enters tonight’s contest with a 4-4-0-1 mark against Hershey. They look for their first winning record against the Bears since the 2006-07 season.

In nine games vs. the Bears this season, the Admirals are led by Cory Conacher, who has five goals and six assists for 11 points, while defenseman Mark Barberio has two goals and eight assists for 10 points.

Goaltender Jaroslav Janus enters tonight’s contest with a 3-0-1 record vs. the Bears this season and is coming off a 4-3 victory in Hershey on Saturday night.

TRADEWINDS BRINGS NEW FACES AND SEES OLD ONES DEPART The last time the Admirals played a game on home ice, their roster looked closely similar to the one that they had on opening night.

Since then, the Admirals’ roster has undergone some changes, which includes the return of two former Admirals and the departure of a number of players.

Two new faces to the Admirals roster are Brandon Segal, who returns to Norfolk after a three-year hiatus and forward Jon Kalinski.

Segal was re-acquired by the Lightning from Rockford in exchange for Matt Fornataro. In his first three games back in an Admirals’ uniform, Segal notched three goals and added an assist. Segal was recalled by Tampa Bay on Monday afternoon and appeared in his first Lightning game on Tuesday night vs. Montreal.

Kalinski joins the Admirals after being acquired by the Lightning from Philadelphia, along with draft picks, in exchange for defenseman Pavel Kubina. Kalinski was held off the scorecard in his first three games as an Admiral.

Carter Ashton, who ranked fifth on the team in points, was traded by Tampa Bay to Toronto in exchange for defenseman, Keith Aulie.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Lightning recalled Mike Angelidis, Pierre-Cedric Labrie, Trevor Smith and defenseman Evan Oberg. Each player appeared in Tuesday night’s contest vs. Montreal, After the game, Labrie, Smith, and Oberg were re-assigned to Norfolk and will appear in tonight’s contest.

Also on Tuesday afternoon, Alex Hutchings joined the Admirals for the first time this season, after he was reassigned by the Lightning from Florida (ECHL). Hutchings rejoins the Admirals after appearing in one regular season and one Calder Cup Playoff game for the team at the end of last season.

ADMIRALS VALUE NIGHT – FEATURING FAMILY FUN PACKS & STUDENT RUSH TICKETS This great deal is offered for all Tuesday and Wednesday night home games during the 2011-12 season.
Family Fun Packs include four discounted Red Level Tickets for just $48 plus four free hot dogs, four free popcorns, and four free sodas. Fans get all of that for just $48- that’s a savings of $37.

Student Rush Nights provide $8 White Level Tickets (normally $12) for students with a valid current high school or college ID. In addition, when you buy a Student Rush Night Ticket, you get a buy-one, get-one free offer for the next Student Rush Night.

When purchased in advance, Family Fun Packs are available at the Scope Box Office, all Ticketmaster Outlets, charge-by-phone at 1-800-745-3000 or online at Ticketmaster.com. However, on the day of the game, Family Fun Packs may only be purchased at the Scope Box Office.

ONE-TIMERS In Sunday’s win at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the Admirals broke their franchise record for longest winning streak with their ninth consecutive victory. The previous record of eight straight wins had stood since March 2002 ... Tonight's game against Hershey will end a stretch of seven consecutive games against East Division opponents for the Admirals. Following tonight’s contest, only five of Norfolk's final 18 games will come against East Division opposition – two games against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and three games against Binghamton … The Bears are winless in their last four contests (0-3-0-1) ... Jaroslav Janus is 3-0-1 against Hershey this season ... With five wins at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre this season, Norfolk notched the first perfect record in an opponent's building when playing five or more games in AHL Admirals history. It also marked just the third time that Norfolk had swept an opponent on the road in four or more games (4-0-0-0 in Louisville in 2000-01 and 4-0-0-0 in Albany in 2010-11) … Brandon Segal, who was acquired by the Lightning last week in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks, posted three goals and four points in three games with the Admirals over the weekend. He was recalled by Tampa Bay on Monday and played in their 2-1 win over Montreal last night at the Tampa Bay Times Forum … On Monday at the NHL's trade deadline, the Lightning acquired defenseman Keith Aulie from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for forward Carter Ashton. Aulie has joined Tampa Bay.